


Accidental Confession

by LeilaBee



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-05
Updated: 2020-01-05
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:00:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22135945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeilaBee/pseuds/LeilaBee
Summary: Evie has a secret. Tom has a secret. Evie doesn't mean to confesses hers but it gives Tom the chance to confess his.
Relationships: Tom Wilson/OFC
Kudos: 4





	Accidental Confession

When I was younger I took free days for granted. I thought they were boring and would rather have plans with my friends. Now that I’m an adult, I can truly appreciate those days when I have nothing that needs done and nowhere to be. Especially on days like this when my best friend, Tom, is spending the day watching movies with me. 

“I brought popcorn and chips,” Tom says from the kitchen. 

“Are either of those on your diet plan?” I tease.

“No but neither are your cupcakes and I’m still going to eat one of those. What are you going to do? Tell the team?” 

These really are my favorite kind of day. Is there anything better than spending an entire day with the person you’re in love with? Tom has no idea how I feel about him, of course, because I don’t want to ruin our friendship. As far as I’m concerned I’d rather have his friendship than risk losing him because I tell him and he doesn’t feel the same way. 

I can’t pinpoint exactly when I fell in love with Tom. What I am sure of is that it was a process. These feelings developed out of our friendship instead of an immediate reaction when we first met. What I can pinpoint is the moment when I realized that I’d fallen in love with him. It had been last winter and he’d been over and we’d been watching movies much like today. It had been on the tail end of a long road trip followed by a very physical game the night before so it wasn’t at all surprising that he’d started to get sleepy. I’d glanced over at him just to see how he was holding up and had found him sleeping peacefully. The pieces snapped together in my mind and I realized that all the little things I’d been feeling the last few months around him had been because I’m in love with him. 

“What are we watching?” He asks. 

"I was thinking Sweet Home Alabama?” 

“What is it with you and romcoms?” He sits on the opposite end of my sofa to give each of us a little extra room for comfort. 

“Only the good romcoms,” I protest, “We can watch something else if you want to. Doesn’t matter that much to me.”

"Nope, I don’t really care.” 

For the first half of the movie we watch in near silence, only making the occasional comment here and there. My feet rest against Tom’s in the center of the sofa and I’m appreciative of the small amount of contact. A part of me wishes we were cuddling. Another part is just glad to have this with him. I’m happy to have an entire afternoon with him free of any interruption. 

The calm shatters when Tom asks, “Why don’t you ever go out on dates anymore?” 

I sputter on the sip of water I’d just taken, needing a moment to regain my composure after the unexpected question. Of all the topics I thought might come up this was not one of them. At no point in our friendship has Tom ever questioned my love life. “What?” 

“You haven’t been on a date in over a year. I was wondering why,” our eyes meet, “Did something bad happen on your last date that you didn’t tell me about?” 

Tom’s not wrong. While I haven’t been keeping track of how long its been since my last date I do know it’s been a long time. There’s no answer I can give him without letting him know about my feelings. I can’t tell him that since the realization that I’m in love with him I’m not interested in dating other men. Unable to really answer why I try to reassure him instead, “Nothing bad happened.” 

“Then what’s going on? I saw that guy give you his number at the bar last week,” he chuckles, “By the way, Jakub thought it was hilarious that you refuse to give your number out and collect them instead.” 

“It’s easier to ignore someone if they don’t call you.” 

"So you aren't calling mr. insurance agent?" 

I freeze and stare at Tom for a moment. When he’d invited me to go out with him and some of his teammates last weekend there had been no hesitation about going. I like Tom’s teammates, they’re a lot of fun to be around, but even more than that I like doing things with Tom. What I hadn’t counted on when I’d agreed to go out with the guys was the insurance agent who’d caught me at the bar and had decided to drunkenly hit on me. While I’d had no interest in the man he was persistent and I’d taken his phone number so that he’d leave me alone. The part that has me stunned is that Tom remembers the guy. I’d only mentioned the guy in passing when I’d returned to where the guys were playing pool after I’d gotten the drink I’d gone to the bar for. “You remember that?”

Tom breaks eye contact and looks at the screen like he suddenly can’t stand to miss a minute of the movie. “I was about to go tell him to get lost before you got away. I thought he was never going to get the hint and leave.” 

This time I need more than a moment to process what he’s just said. Last weekend I’d been under the impression that he’d just been playing pool with his friends in my absence. If that were the case he shouldn’t have even been able to see the guy at the bar let alone know that he was being pushy. The only way Tom could have seen anything that happened was if he was trying to as there was no way to see the bar from the pool table where they were. 

“You were watching me?” I ask, eyebrows knitting together. 

“I wasn’t watching you. It’s not like I was being a creep. I just noticed he was there and you didn’t look happy about it. I wanted to make sure that he wasn’t making you uncomfortable. It didn’t seem like you were into it but then you handed him your number so I thought maybe I was wrong.” 

“You weren’t wrong. I have no intention of calling him. I never did. I just wanted him to go away,” I bump his foot with mine. “Thanks for watching out for me.” 

“You know I always will.” 

I return my attention to the movie and hope that this is the end of discussion about my dating life. I know how I feel about Tom, and I know that I’d love to be able to try for more between the two of us, but I’m also not willing to ruin our friendship. He’s the type of friend that’s a rare find and I don’t want to jeopardize that. His friendship is one of the most important in my life and the thought of losing it is a little scary. That doesn’t calm the butterflies the thought of Tom looking out for me though. 

Things stay normal between the two of us until we’re nearing the end of the movie. This time instead of just speaking up, Tom grabs the remote off my coffee table and hits the pause button. “You never answered my question. Why’d you stop dating?” 

I toss my head back and let out a groan. “We’re not twelve-year-old girls at a sleepover! I’m not going to tell you who I’m interested in.” 

Tom sits up and if I wasn’t so flustered by the topic of conversation I might laugh at how quick the movement is. He doesn’t give me a chance to say anything else. “That’s why you stopped dating?” 

I grab the now empty popcorn bowl and swing my feet off the couch. I need at least a smidgeon of space from him if I have any hope thinking clearly enough to have a chance at keeping my feelings a secret. “I’m not talking about this with you.” 

“Come on, Evie. You tell me everything.” Tom rises from my sofa. 

“I don’t tell you everything!” I move into my kitchen for a little extra space. 

“You tell me almost everything.” 

He isn’t wrong. I do tell Tom almost everything. Anytime something new happens in my life he’s always the first of my friends to hear about it. Before my realization about my feelings for him I’d even told him when I was going out with a new guy. It’s completely fair for him to argue that I don’t keep secrets from him. There’s still isn’t a single part of me that wants to talk about it though so I try and deflect again, “Not about this. Do you want more popcorn for the next movie or should we have dinner a little early? I’m making tacos.” 

Somehow I don’t hear the footsteps behind me so I’m unaware that Tom has followed me into the kitchen until he says, “What I want is for you to not shut me out. What’s wrong? Why did you stop talking to me about this?” 

“Because I don’t want to!” I spin around so that I can meet his eyes and hope the pleading look in mine is enough to end this conversation. 

Tom’s shoulders stiffen. “Is it one of the guys?” 

There’s a sinking feeling in my stomach. Saying that it’s one of his teammates would be an easy way out of this conversation. At least it would be until he decides to get involved and fix me up with whichever teammate I lie about being into. It’s something that Tom would definitely do just to make me happy because he’s that kind of friend. In the moment I sort of wish that he didn’t care enough about seeing his friends happy to do something like that because it would make things a lot simpler for me. Ultimately the risk of taking the easy way out isn’t worth it. “No.” 

It seems like Tom’s shoulders relax a little bit. “Do I know him?” 

“Tom, I can’t do this! Please just let it go!”

“Why is this a secret?” His voice softens a bit. 

“Because it has to be, okay? There’s no future with this guy for me. I know that and I need to get over him. Talking about it isn’t going to help me get over him! Just drop it!”

It isn’t often that I can’t tell how Tom’s feeling just by looking at his eyes. This is one of those rare times when I’m unable to identify what emotion he’s feeling though. He reaches out to gently grab my wrist and it’s just another reminder about how well he knows me. Confrontation of any kind with the most important people in my life isn’t something I’m good at handling. He knows that it’s a real possibility that I’ll continue to move around instead of facing this. 

It’s not the first time that he’s grabbed my wrist like this but it is the first time that he moves his hand so that he can lace his fingers with mine. “Evie, talk to me.” 

“I can’t! I can’t talk to you about it, Tom, because if I do I fuck up our friendship. I can’t tell you that I’m in love with you and am trying to get over you because it will ruin everything!” It pours out before I can react and stop myself from saying it. Shock fills me as I realize what I’ve just done. 

Tom goes quiet but he doesn’t pull his hand away from mine. The two of us stand in my kitchen for a few very long feeling minutes just looking at each other. I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop now that I’ve done what you thought was unthinkable just a little while ago. As I wait for Tom to speak my heart hammers with the certainty that he’s about to say that nothing is going to happen between us, that he doesn’t feel the same way, and that we need some time apart. For a second I wonder if he’s waiting for me to say something more or to yank my hand away from him and leave before he can even say anything. The idea of leaving before he can say anything that’s going to break my heart is certainly tempting. 

Tom sighs and more tension leaves his body. “I thought I was reading things wrong.” 

“W-what?” I stutter. I know I’ve heard him right but it makes no sense. It isn’t what I was expecting to hear. 

Tom gently pulls me a little closer, not untangling our hands from each other. His voice is softens, “Come here.” 

Unsure what’s happening, I give into the urge to hide my face against his chest. The height difference between us makes it easy to get comfort from him without having to look him in the eye. When Tom doesn’t say anything, I whisper, “Tom?” 

He puts his free hand on my lower back as if he’s trying to hold me against him. “You really thought telling me was going to ruin our friendship?” 

“Yeah. How can it not?” 

His chuckle rumbles against my cheek. “Because I guess I should have been a little more obvious.” 

“What are you talking about?” I pull my head away from his chest so that I can look up at him.

“You weren’t kidding when you said you don’t do subtle,” he smiles at me, “Haven’t you realized that I’m basically always right there anytime some guy tries to flirt with you? That I’m always trying to spend more time with you? Hell, that I’m really affectionate with you?” 

Of course I’ve noticed all those things but I had an explanation for them. He looks out for me because he’s a good friend and pushy guys leave me alone a lot easier with Tom around. It made sense for close friends to spend a lot of time together. It never seemed odd that he’s affectionate because for him it just seems normal. At least that’s what I’ve told myself. Only now I’m not so sure anymore. “Yeah, because we’re friends. Right?” 

“We’re friends but that’s not why. I’m in love with you. I’ve been in love with you for years. I’ve just been trying to get you to figure it out without actually having to tell you.” 

“What? Why?” 

“Because I didn’t want to ruin our friendship if you didn’t feel the same way and I just blindsided you with it,” he laughs, “A little ironic if you think about it.” 

My cheeks warm. “But I've seen you date other women. You can’t tell me you weren’t interested in them.” 

He releases my hand so that he can wrap his other arm around me. He’s hugged me hundreds of times before but this is different. It’s so much better. “I was trying to move on because I didn’t think you felt the same way. Then you stopped dating and I thought maybe I’d get a shot after all so I tried to be subtle about it.” 

My head falls forward so that my forehead rests against his solid chest. “We’re both stupid.” 

“We are,” Tom laughs, “but at least it’s about each other.” 

I want to stop the giggle but I can’t. “That’s such a terrible joke.” 

The silence that falls over us isn’t awkward anymore. It’s surprisingly comfortable given that we’ve just changed your entire relationship at the drop of a hat. There’s no going back from what’s just happened but I don’t feel afraid of that. I’m just happy. A little confused at the news that Tom’s in love with me but happy none the less.

It takes a few minutes before Tom speaks again. “Can I kiss you now? Because I’m really excited for that part.” 

I laugh and pull away from him just enough to see him. The happy smile on his face is contagious and I can feel my own smile growing. “I’d really, really like that.” 

Tom’s lips meet mine and the feeling is everything that I’d thought it would be and then some. His lips move against mine at a slow, gentle pace. There's nothing hurried about the kiss. No urgency that feels like there won't be more kisses to follow this. The warmth in my chest reaffirms what I already knew, that I’m completely in love with him, and provides the promise of more to come. Of all the firsts that will come after today.

As soon as Tom pulls his lips away, he rests his forehead against mine. His eyes shut for a moment and I wonder if he needs a moment to compose himself after the kiss like I do. Before opening his eyes he presses a second, shorter kiss to my lips and then his blue eyes meet mine. “Are you busy tomorrow night?”

“I’ll have to check my calendar but I think I can make time for you.”

He rolls his eyes but the smile that makes my knees weak is tugging at his lips. I push myself up enough to give him another short kiss. I know that I’ve already told him how I feel but don’t want to only time I say it today is on accident. “I love you.”


End file.
